Donald Priest

Professional Brazilian MMA fighter receives emergency spine surgery at UF Health North.

Juan Sanchez is a restaurant manager who works long, busy hours. In late 2019, while at work, Sanchez began to experience weakness, tingling and numbness in his left foot. He initially put off seeing his primary care physician, but as the symptoms began spreading to his left arm and hand, Sanchez made the choice to seek medical care at UF Health.

Deep brain stimulation improves the quality of life for a patient with Parkinson’s disease.

Jax Spine and Pain Centers, in collaboration with UF Health Jacksonville, has begun work on a multispecialty surgery center and medical office building.

Daryoush Tavanaiepour, MD, chair of the department of neurosurgery and medical director of movement disorders, discussed how deep brain stimulation, an innovative type of therapy, can benefit patients and caregivers of those with Parkinson’s and other movement disorders during the virtual Prime of Your Life event held via Zoom on Dec. 7, 2020.

Lauren Fells vividly recalls the angst from April 27, 2019, the date a life-threatening tumor started its wrath. She was sick at work that day and had been battling migraine headaches for weeks. A month or so later, Fells learned from the UF Health Skull Base Center that she had a brain tumor, requiring expert removal to help her survive.

Lauren Fells, a Jacksonville mom of two, started getting intense headaches in April.

Aaron “Melvin” Turner knew of the battle raging in his head between his brain and a growing tumor. He and his wife, Joan, had been working toward surgery for more than a year. Neither one of them was thrilled about it.

Mya Simmons suffered from regular seizures since her October 2018 birth and had a skull abnormality. After 17 hours of surgery, two separate procedures by two separate surgeons in April, she will celebrate her first birthday seizure-free and with a skull on its way to normal.

Daryoush Tavanaiepour, MD, has been named chair of neurosurgery at the University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville. He served as the department’s interim chair since 2015. Tavanaiepour, an associate professor of neurosurgery, joined UF Health in 2012 and quickly established himself as one of the region’s premier neurosurgeons.